Shake over ice, reserving the rum, and strain into an ice-filled highball glass. Float your rum of choice, and add the garnishes

gaz sez: Oh yes, oh yes, oh, yes. Gimme them Angostura Bitters, and marry them off to a couple of fine liqueurs, a touch of lime juice, and a dab of orgeat. Simply divine. My kind of summer drink, for sure.

A great cocktail has the potential to boost an entire category of spirits, like the Margarita did for Tequila or the Pisco Sour did for Pisco. They also have the power to elevate a single brand into the indelible lexicon of drinks, like the Dark and Stormy did for Gosling’s Dark Rum or the Bacardi Cocktail did for Bacardi. For Cherry Heering, the drink which solidified their place in the drinking pantheon was the Singapore Sling. Created at the turn of the century at the Long Bar in the Raffle’s Hotel in Singapore by Mr. Ngiam Tong Boon, the Singapore Sling brought together gin, pineapple juice, Cointreau, Benedictine, Grenadine, Angostura Bitters and Cherry Heering Liqueur into a complex but approachable cocktail. Not only was the drink a smash hit, it brought Cherry Heering into countless bars around the world.

Cherry Heering had already been sold for almost a century before the Singapore Sling. Often considered one of the original cherry brandy liqueurs, Cherry Heering launched in Denmark in 1818. Over its hundred year history prior to the Sling, Cherry Heering won a bevy of royal stamps and medals including the seal of both H.M. Queen Elisabeth II of the United Kingdom and H.M. Queen Margrethe II of Denmark.

With the craft cocktail revival over the past few years, Cherry Heering and the Singapore Sling (along with the Blood and Sand) have seen a revival. Recently, Cherry Heering held a contest among both American and German bartenders to find a modern interpretation of the classic cocktail. Philip Thompson from the Coterie in Seattle, WA managed to come out on top with his Sling & Fizzle.

Combine all ingredients in a ISI container and charge with 2 CO2 charges. Set aside in ice.

Take the chilled ISI container and gently top cocktail with foam. Garnish with a couple drops of Angostura Bitters swirled into a pretty design. DO NOT SERVE WITH A STRAW!

By migrating the pineapple juice to the foam, and adding lemon juice and soda water, Philip transformed the Sling into a much lighter and more refreshing drink. Adding the foam enhances the aromatics and brings the bright cherry notes from the Heering into the mix.

Will the Sling & Fizzle become a modern classic? Who knows, but it serves as a fantastic reminder of the way that cocktails can impact spirits, and how a drink that’s existed for almost a hundred years can be as relevant as when it was first served.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCnF4ht5Wcc see how Philip Thompson won

On Friday, viewers across the world watched the spectacular opening ceremonies of the 2012 Olympic Games in London. And even though the celebration of the Olympics is taking place across the pond, there are a few Texas bars and restaurants that are managing to bring the “spirit” of the Olympics to the Lone Star State. Check out these delicious Olympic-inspired cocktails being served across Texas throughout the 2012 Olympic Games.

Malai Kitchen (Celeb Mixologist Jason Kosmas). This is an Olympic-sized cocktail for two people

“This is the original Singapore Sling recipe from the Raffles Hotel. I learned this recipe from Dale Degroff (who also re-introduced it to the hotel of its origin). We are treating it like a punch as it has a plethora of ingredients: gin, Cherry Heering, Cointreau, Benedictine, Angostura Bitters, lime juice, and pineapple juice. It is classic from that part of the world and is great in hot weather as a drink to share.” – Kosmas

For a drink to go with dessert at Lineage, bartender Ryan Lotz had an idea that kept the continuity with the Final Voyage’s rum theme. The idea of a Cherry Heering and rum Flip reminded me of the gin and cherry one that I had several months ago; however, this one upped the ante. Not only was the base spirit more robust, but there was a half pony of Angostura Bitters in the mix as well! Ryan did not have a name for the drink, but based on the Jamaican rum and the cherry liqueur, I am dubbing it the Calabura Flip after the Jamaican Cherry Tree, Muntingia calabura, that has a variety of other names depending on where this species grows.

The Flip presented a cinnamon and cherry aroma from a combination of the Fee’s bitters on the garnish and the Heering in the drink; moreover, Angostura Bitters contains cherry wood and other spice notes that might be bolstering these notes as well. Next, the sip was a rich and bitter cherry flavor, and the swallow contained the Angostura’s spice and the Smith & Cross potent and funky rum notes. The flavors on the swallow were well balanced in intensity and worked well with the rich and spiced elements in the cherry liqueur.

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. I added a small lime twist to the drink.

After making The Bitter End on Saturday night, I still had some lime juice left over and I decided it was time to make a drink I had spotted in the 1937 UKBG Approved Cocktails a few weeks back. This recipe, the Hot Shot, was created by Ben Joseph and reminded me of the Bulldog with some of the lime’s crispness swapped for Angostura Bitters. I figured that if my palate was already warped by the Angostura-heavy Bitter End, this was truly the perfect time to give this strange recipe a try. The Siegert’s Bouquet Rum that the recipe calls for was a Trinidad Rum produced by the Angostura Company; I substituted El Dorado 3 Year, but my later research suggests that I should have used something darker and better aged.

The Angostura Bitters contributed a nice froth to the shaken drink. While the Angostura was not as abundant in the aroma as it was in The Bitter End, it contributed along with the cherry and lime. The sip was slightly sweet and full of cherry notes and vanilla from the rum, and this sweetness was dried out on the swallow by the Angostura’s spices and the lime juice’s crispness. Moreover, the cherry notes continued on in the swallow to complement the lime and Angostura flavors. With each additional sip, the spice level grew especially the clove. From the name, I was tempted to shoot the drink; however, I am glad that I sipped it to the end. For a similarly bizarre embittered Cherry Heering drink, there is also the Pinto from around the same time era.

Champagne and the New Year are matching bookends. You must have both to truly ring in a festive 2011. This champagne cocktail originated in the fashionable parlors of the upper west side in New York City. Cherry Heering is a brandy-based Danish cherry liqueur. You can find this liqueur at any specialty liquor or package store. Our test kitchen at Foodcreate.com has been sampling this recipe all day long. It is really outstanding. The maraschino cherries combined with angostura bitters create a tangy and rather pungent odor and sensation. Angostura lends a dramatic effect to this wonderful cocktail. Enjoy. Drink responsibly and have a wonderful New Year!

If you log into the Royal Warrants website: www.royalwarrant.org you will find the following words on Heering:

PETER F.HEERING
Purveyors of Cherry Heering
The history of the firm of Peter F. Heering begins as long ago as December 1, 1818. It was on this date that the young grocer’s assistant Peter Fredrik Suhm Heering opened a business of his own in the centre of Copenhagen, Denmark. At first, it was a modest cellar shop, but its proprietor was a man of sound business instinct who realised the possibilities latent in an old recipe which had been given him. He experimented with the recipe, improved it, and started to manufacture in quantity. Soon Peter F. Heering owned a mansion in Copenhagen and a fleet of ships. Kings and Emperors ordered it for their table sophisticated individuals of every nationality came to value its characteristic taste and fashionable impression the world over.

During the first part of the 19th Century there was no Gucci or Dior or Chanel or even Nike. There were just spices, furs, gold and shoes made by the corner shoemaker. Spirits were local – in the West Indies one drank rum, in London most likely gin. But as the British Empire grew, Heering Cherry Liqueur achieved a global following. Allegedly, nothing was more enticing on a warm afternoon than a cocktail of the finest calibre. So the British and their friends made sure there was plenty of ‘Cherry Heering’, and Heering ensured that life, in the far reaches of the Kingdom, was civilized. And one of the first global brands was born.

In 1819 Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles landed in Singapore and purchased a plot of land from the Sultan of Johor where he created a trading post for the British East Asian Trading Company. A hundred years later, in the lobby of the infamous Raffles Hotel, legendary bartender Mr Ngiam Tong Boon invented the Singapore Sling later to achieve global fame by mixing 30 ml of Gin, 15 ml Heering Cherry Liqueur, 120 ml pineapple juice, 15 ml lime juice, 7,5 ml Cointreau, 7,5 ml DOM Benedictine, 10 ml Grenadine and a dash of Angostura Bitters. Shaken not stirred, served on ice in a cocktail glass.